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ICT for food sufficiency

Written by PCARRD

Friday, 15 May 2009

Rice after recovery from infestation. (Photo inset) Rice farmer on video conference.

Banaybanay, a third class municipality in the province of Davao Oriental, is noted for its product trademark IR-64, otherwise known as “Banaybanay Rice”. This rice variety has become popular to consumers in the local as well as the national markets because of its quality.

The government’s Rice Hybridization Program established the reputation of Banaybanay farmers not only as hybrid rice seed producers but commercial rice producers as well.

Given this reputation, Banaybanay has promoted rice as the town’s OTOP (One Town One Product) and the focus commodity of the Farmers Information and Technology Services (FITS) of the Techno Gabay Program of the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD). Rice being one of the most important commodities in Philippine agriculture because it is the staple food of the Filipinos, it has become a major source of income for Banaybanay farmers.

The use of appropriate technologies for rice farming in the area started in the late 1970’s. Almost all rice varieties were tried but it is IR-64 that brought success for Banaybanay farmers. For the past cropping seasons, farmers have been happy with consistently high yields as a consequence of their expertise in rice farming and the use of Package of Technology (POT’s) introduced by the agricultural extension workers through the Municipal Agriculturist Office (MAO). In support of the Department of Agriculture’s Hybridization Program, the local government unit (LGU) spearheaded its implementation through the technical experts of the FITS Center in the MAO. Hybrid and Inbred Rice Seed Production and Commercialization were adopted by farmers with remarkable production outputs with average yield ranging from 110 to 140 cavans per hectare for commercial rice and 1 ton per hectare for seed production.

Farmer on K-AgriNet PCARRD SMS

In 2007, however, rice production areas experienced an infestation outbreak of Brown Plant Hoppers (BPH) causing hopper burn in rice paddies. During the first cropping season in 2008, some farmers noticed unidentified rice diseases attacking the rice farms similar to rice blast but with worse damages. Farmers were alarmed by this occurrence. Despite their expertise in rice farming, local technical experts were unable to diagnose the disease in the field.

The FITS Center offers services on Rice Knowledge Bank (RKB) utilization, information on Short Message System (SMS) utilization, video conferencing and other Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based online transactions. The center is also equipped with information in print, techno CDs and other IEC materials. The MAO, FITS Center of the LGU of Banaybanay, in convergence with PHILRICE-OPAPA and SMARRDEC-USEP through the K-AgriNet Program’s Cyber Community in Barangay Caganganan, also provides fast access to ICT services. These strategies helped in finding solutions to problems in the field beyond the technical capacity of the local experts.

Given this reality, local technical experts encouraged farmers to research the problem in the Internet through the FITS. Since the establishment of the FITS, a series of information dissemination and training on ICT utilization was conducted for the entire municipality. The objective was to promote the utilization of equipment and facilities, which are open to all for free.

Together with the technical experts, the FITS management conducted field monitoring and inspection of the infested rice areas. They collected samples for referral to the Rice Knowledge Bank (RKB) database as to the color and the degree of damage of the infested part of the plant for appropriate diagnosis. Throughout this activity, the presence of the farmers was critical in order for them to know possible recommendations immediately.

Local experts and rice farmers on ICT training at the FITS Center

In addition, the FITS technical experts arranged an appointment with the PhilRice-Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OPAPA) at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) to tap a resource speaker for a video conference. The FITS management and staff facilitated preparation of the venue and the provision of facilities in addition to the cybercom equipment. They coordinated schedules with the barangay officials of Barangay Caganganan (as the host agency of the cybercom) who mobilized farmers to share the problems experienced in each rice area.

During the video conference with the PhilRice resource speaker, farmers described the infestation incidents in their respective farms. The personnel from PhilRice-OPAPA in USeP, the management of FITS center in Banaybanay and the cyber community facilitated the video conference. Some difficulties encountered during the conference and in RKB browsing include computer glitches. However, the technical problems were readily attended to by the FITS Information Service Specialist (ISS).

Results

1. RKB database utilization – After the conduct of research through the FITS technical experts and the farmers, they were able to diagnose, identify the disease and finally confirm it as rice blast. The degree of damage was the only difference from the previous infestation that made the local experts and farmers doubtful on the exact diagnosis of such disease. The appropriate control measures recommended by the Rice Knowledge Bank database were applied. From then on, many farmers have visited the FITS center for Rice Knowledge Bank research. From ten farmer users of RKB in 2006, clientele has increased to fifty and sixty users in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

2. Video Conferencing - On the other hand, after face-to-face conversations with the PhilRice Specialist through videoconferencing, farmers learned and applied the package of appropriate technology in their farms, thus maintaining the food security/sufficiency of the municipality. The video conference was conducted twice in 2008, with sixty participating farmers.